New Stuff

Well, the place that I have not updated in way too long.

I have lots of stuff to put up here but not the time to do it....    I will, soon.

C.

The Wall, A Foto Essay

Here are fotos of Red Brick Walls.  Someone on a forum mentioned a Brick Wall and it got me into a mood to do a short foto essay, so, here it is.

I used a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 for this, which would have given me 12 shots, but, thanks to me being an idiot, two shots were lost.  Here in Germany, many buildings/walls use large blocks rather than the more typical red bricks that Americans are used to seeing.  I wanted to stay with walls containing the more commonly known red bricks for this essay.  Each foto came from a different town.  It was really a bit of fun driving around and searching through the little villages to find something made with these bricks, and then to find one that looked like it belonged in a picture.  Not just any brick wall would do.  This little essay was fun.  Might have to try one again sometime.

Camera:  Hasselblad 500C/M
Lens: Zeiss 60mm Distagon
Film:  Kodak Ektar 100, 120 format

Pissing Off Your Friends

This picture has a pretty big story behind it.  Yes, I used this picture in my last post.  Like I said, it has a story behind it.

Some people say they have friends.  Some say they have great friends.  Some say they will be friends till The End.  A friendship should last for a very long time, no doubt.  There's really not much in this life that should come between people enough to break up a friendship.  Of course people will have their differences, even between friends, that's just human nature.  Some people say they will be friends until they die.  Some say until Forever, usually meaning until the end of all Existence.  Some say "I'll be waiting for ya when you get to Hell".  I've even heard "I'll be waiting in Hell with a cold Beer for ya!".

So, did I lose a friend?  Probably not, I just pissed him off.  That guy in the background giving me the Evil Eye, is Sam.  That girl next to him is.....  um.....   well, I don't know what he calls her.  That was his girl for the month of August.  I don't know if they made it into September, but I thought I heard her voice in the hallway last night, so we'll see.  Anyway, Sam had a Fiance.  I say "had" because, you guessed it, he doesn't have her anymore.  No, he didn't cheat on her with this girl in the picture.  It was the other X-number of women he cheated on her with that sealed his fate.  3 days before she was to fly to him so they could get married, she found out the truth.  This was all a few months back.  I think he was still trying to work it out with her.  At least, until I posted this picture from last Saturday on the Net. 

The ex-fiance commented on it, he called me a Jerk (rightly so) and I haven't see or heard from the girl in the picture (who is also an acquaintance of mine).

But you can see the story there in his eyes.  I read it all through the viewfinder of my Leica M3 as I composed the shot and clicked the shutter into action.  It was all there.  "Jerk" was an understatement.

Have a nice day!
:-)

Wine Fest

Not too many thoughts today, just want to share some pictures from the latest batch.  I went to Wurzberg, Germany last Saturday with some friends for a Wine Fest.  Wasn't too big, but it was very nice.  It was a great day and we had a lot of fun.  Enjoy the pictures!

A little food, a little wine....

Vendors in the streets.

Young ladies singing on the corner.

These two both blinked when I took this!

 MIMES!!!!!!

 Of course it rained.

Inside a Thousand Year Old Church.

The Tomb underneath the Thousand Year Old Church.

Another Thousand Year Old Church....  just down the street.

Time for Beer.  This shot got me in some trouble.  It's a long story, really, but you can see it all in his eyes :-)

Resting at the Fountain.

Feeding the Birds.

Jump in front of the Band while your buddy is trying to take a picture.

Buy some Pretzels.

Just the Guys.

And the day ends with you crashing your drunk arse on your wife for the train ride home.














The Photography stuff:
All colour shots were taken with the Hasselblad 500C/M, 60mm Distagon lens, and Ektar 100 film.
All B&W shots taken with the Leica M3, 50mm CV Nokton F/1.1 lens, and Rollei Pan 25 film.
The Ektar was developed in Unicolor C41 kit, the Rollei developed in Neofin Blau.
Everything was scanned with a Canoscan 8800F.  Dust removed in Photoshop, no alterations made.

Berlin, East

There's no longer a split between East and West Berlin, it's all back to one City.  Been this way for a while now.  I was there this past weekend and I could see with my own eyes that there is no more separation.  If you really didn't know there used to be a split, you might not be able to tell.  Had three great tour guides.  They are photographer friends too, and they live there.  Even at Three in the Morning, the place is still moving with people on the subway, walking the streets

I really didn't want to leave there on Sunday evening.  As it happens, I couldn't make the last train out, so, I didn't leave.  Glad I was on Holiday and didn't have to be at work on Monday morning!  I can't wait to go back again.  In total, I took six rolls of pictures.  Next time, I hope to take more.  The one roll of Black and White film didn't develop very well.  Turns out the developer I was using is not suited for anything over 200 ISO film, and I was shooting Tri-X 400.  Not a complete bust, but the pictures are a little on the light side.  Photoshop helps a bit for the scans but I won't be making any prints off that roll. 

One thing I will recommend for any of you that want to visit Berlin, stay at the Circus Hostel.  You can stay at a Hotel, but the Hostel is great.  It's clean, comfy, simple for those who will be out all day and night and only need a place to sleep, which is all I needed.  Shower and toilet facilities were very clean and sanitary.  The wait staff was exceptional too.  Had a little trouble at first explaining How I was a citizen of a different country and didn't have a Passport....  but it worked out in the end.  If you're not from Germany, take your Passport with you just to skip that conversation.  And if Judith should ever happen to find my little blog here this corner of the internet, I will be back to teach you Fotografy!  I stood right in front of this young woman, camera in-hand, and was so entranced with her beauty that I did not even think to take a photo of her.  How dumb can I be, ya know?

So, six rolls of film and only a handful worth showing.  That's ok.  Most of them were larger scenery shots that don't look that good shrunk down as small as these photos go, so it all works in the end.  I have my memories and photos to look at, and you get to see a few of my shots here.  Go to Berlin and see the city for yourself.  The food is awesome too!  A cafe on every corner and ten in between.  It just can't be beat.  The food alone is almost worth going for.  Don't forget to make time for the Museums.  I only visited one Photo exhibit there, but they have some of the best Museums in the world right there, all in walking distance.  We only took the subway a couple times, and that was in the dead of night on the way to the Hostel for some sleep.  After walking all day, I was wooped, but it was so worth it.  Go to Berlin!

Cars and Cameras

Cool old cars are always something to write about.  I was a car buff when I was a teen, as I'm sure most red blooded Americans were, and I've grown out of it, as so many other have.  The term "Stock" replaced "Modified" whenever a car became the topic of discussion, and that's the way I like them today.  When it comes to photographs, stock or modified doesn't matter, as long as the vehicle has style.  This portrait was taken with a Hasselblad medium format camera and 60mm lens.  A quick note for those not too familiar with Medium format yet, 80mm is a Standard lens, as a 50mm is Standard for a 35mm format camera.  So, 60mm in Medium format is a wide angle lens, whereas a 60mm in 35mm camera format would be a telephoto.  The negative itself is 2 1/4 inches by 2 1/4 inches square.  That's 6 centimeters by 6 centimeters, shortened to "6x6".  They also make a 6x4.5, 6x7, 6x9.  No, you can not turn your 35mm into a Medium format, don't try it.

This little car here was in the parking garage near the hotel I stayed at in Paris.  I didn't bother to get the make or model off it, I really didn't care, it was just a cool car.  I put the Hassy on the ground for this shot and just angled it up a little bit to catch everything in the viewfinder.  I had to be careful as there was a pidgeon in the rafter above me, watching, and waiting, but I got the shot before he could do anything nasty to me.  I think it came out pretty darn good.  There was another car there in the garage I got a picture of, looked like an old Citreon, but again, I didn't bother to find out, I just took the picture.  The film for this one was Ilford Pan F Plus.  The other was shot with Rollei Pan 25.  Also on this trip I caught a Masarati next to the Eiffel Tower, and back in Germany I caught a Ferrari in Nurnberg.  Beautiful cars with style.

Digital and Film.... not Digital vs. Film

Digital vs. Film, a debate that has been ongoing since.... the 1980's?  Well, I've made my part known in this debate also, many times.  Now I say "Digital and Film" and leave out the "vs".  Some like one, some like the other, and some like both.  No need to argue, they are both going to be around for a while.  Yes, I am of the belief that film will not disappear.  When it all comes down to it, they're both means to the same end, and they both work, it's just a matter of what YOU like personally.  So, really, there's no debate at all, people just want something else to argue over.  Heck, if you want to argue, get married.  And so ends the Digital vs. Film debate!

This photo is a quick mock-up for a discussion on a camera forum I frequent.  We enjoy our old film cameras, and some thought it would be nice to have a removable digital back for these old cameras for some times when digital would be a proper medium to shoot.  Not a bad idea.  Some of these old film cameras cost $1000 or more, easily, and they are wonderful hand built German cameras.  Yes, we're talking about the Leica.  The "M" series to be exact.  No need for pictures of it here, you have Google to answer all those questions.
So, in the talks of making a removable digital back, I did a quick mock-up to illustrate my idea for having all the components mounted on a baseplate that would be installed into the camera as one unit.  Simple and easy, no need to get too high tech with it.  The camera still controls all the functions of aperture and film speed, while the ISO of the "film" is selectable on the digi assembly when you put it into the camera.  No connections to the camera are needed so you don't have to modify your old body at all.  Quite nice I think.  Digital and Film, anytime you want.  You can even throw the digi assembly into it's nice little metal carry pouch (included with the assembly upon purchase) and throw it in your camera bag to take with you and have both any time.  Simple.

Frédéric François Chopin

While in Paris two weeks ago, I was mostly shooting black and white film.  I had a couple film backs for the Hasselblad loaded with very old colour stuff but didn't realize when I had shot them.  Such is the nature of a 'surprise'.  This turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.  When I developed the roll and scanned it, I fell in love with it.  This was also a large stroke of luck, as the film roll had expired in 1998.  The other rolls did not come out anywhere near this, one even being unusable - I got enough shots of the Eiffel Tower anyway, so no great loss.

Here we have the grave of Frédéric François Chopin.  1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849.  Admired by so many, still to this day.  That is impressive.  I waited for a good fifteen minutes for people to leave so I could get close enough for this shot.

Looking at, and photographing, death, makes me think more about life.  It makes me want to do more before I come here and stay here.  That inspiration is quickly lost in my when I get back outside and step back into my daily life, but while walking through a cemetery, my mind slows down, and quiets down, and really listens to the rest of me.  Mostly, the heart.  All I want is to enjoy this simple life  while I can.  So much in our lives is just useless junk, but in today's society, we're trained to see things as if they are essential to daily life.  Some people can get away from that, but then they are labeled as the bad guy for thinking outside their box.  I think that's a discussion in itself....   Anyway, seeing this shot come out as well as it did inspired me to do more colour photography.  I enjoy black and white very much, but I'm adding some colour film into my bag now too.  Who knows what it will see.....